Grahame Thorne Great Try

All Blacks vs West Wales. 1967. Swansea

Category:

Sports

Tags:

• Grahame
• Thorne
• Great
• Trys
• All
• Blacks
• Rugby
• 1967
• Best

[newland50]

@david10101961

Unfortunately for a number of ABs, including Kirton, MacRae, Davis and Dick, their best days had passed by 1970, which made it all the more surprising that an in-form, incisive midfield player such as Thorne was messed about so shockingly. He was exactly what that backline needed. Wyllie and Sutherland were messed about too. I met Ivan and you couldn't find a nicer bloke but how I wish Fred Allen had still been coach. That tour was an opportunity hurled away.

[newland50]

@david10101961

Steel was out of rugby by 1970. On the 68 tour of Australia, an Achilles ligament injury was the end of him. From memory, he was being administered heat treatment and the Aussie specialist somehow burnt out the Archilles. The end of a superb wing whose extreme pace on the hard grounds in SA (he was a national sprint champ) would have been invaluable. I saw him play, he was a rocket. Imagine if someone like McCaw had their career ended like that. Unthinkable.

[david10101961]

@newland50 ....and Thorne was the only logical replacement. This also allowed the experienced Hawkes Bay pairing of MacRae and Davis in the centres, and they proved strong in a 9-8 win. Williams had an outstanding game at centre against Western Province, and Ivan decided to play him there at Boet Erasmus, one of many errors that saw a 3-14 loss. Dick was recalled for the 4th test, allowing Thorne to play centre, and he split the Bok defensive line on the few occasions he was given the ball.

[david10101961]

@newland50 Thorne did play at centre in tests 1 & 4. However, the selectors arguably erred by picking only 3 specialist wings (Dick, Williams, Hunter) for the tour and leaving players like O’Callaghan, Steel, Skudder and (an aging) Birtwistle behind. Hunter was inexperienced and injury-prone. Dick was first choice for RW, but in the first test (lost 6-17) he proved shaky under the high ball, a weakness exploited repeatedly by Piet Visagie. Hence Dick was dropped for the Newlands test..........

[newland50]

As an afterthought, the response of the Welsh crowd to the try was generous indeed, you'd have thought it was one of their own players making that fabulous run. Their sporting attitude was admirable. Of course, unlike Ivan V, the Welsh know -- and appreciate -- a rugby genius when they see one.

[newland50]

Why he wasn't at centre in all the 1970 tests against the Boks is beyond me, he was far too good to be stuck out on the wing. Ivan Vodanovich was a lovely man but his misuse of Thorne was criminal. Ivan, you threw away a diamond and went with cut glass. It was a tragedy for AB rugby that he took up residence in SA at the age of 24. Just looking at this try shows you what NZ, and world rugby, missed. A rare talent indeed. The best NZ centre I've seen. Thanks for posting this vid.

[TheAnt12xu]

Brilliant inside outside swerve followed by sheer GAS